Zoey Turns True
- Title: Zoey Turns True
- Author: Klaus Schilling
- Rating: PG13
- Disclaimer: iDont Own True Jackson VP or Zoey 101
- Genre: Short Story Fluff, Family, Business, Fashion, Science Fiction
- Fandoms: True Jackson VP, Zoey 101
- Characters: Zoey Brooks/True Jackson,Dustin Brooks/Lulu,Logan Reese/Dakota North,Vince Blake/Pinky,Lisa Perkins/Jimmy Madigan,Quinn Pensky,Lola Martinez,Amanda Cantwell,Coco Wexler,Ryan Lazorbeam
- Summary: Dustin Brooks returns lovesick from mathlympic camp. Zoey has to investigate.
Zoey Turns True
Table of Contents
Back From The Trials
Zoey was excited. Dustin had been in the mathlympics trials with the Californian delegation. She knew that he was good, and she hoped to announce him as a winner when she was going to report back to her mom and her dad who were in London ... Zoey had just turned eighteen, and she had obtained guardianship over Dustin. This made him a Californian resident, reducing tuition fees at the PCA severely - the international student fees that their parents had to pay up to then were thrice as much. For Zoey that meant both a lot of pride and a lot of responsibility.
Lola and Quinn jumped into Zoey's car. They were accompanying Zoey to LA Airport in order to pick up Dustin.
Quinn envied Zoey's little brother a lot. She had never come that far, her astronomical intelligence notwithstanding.
Lola, on the other hand, had absolutely no understanding of what Dustin was into. If it weren't for counting her Oscars, Lola wouldn't have been going to need any maths at all in her future life, so why bother?
The machine from Boston had landed with a hunky delay of over an hour.
But, finally, Zoey was ready to receive her little brother. She stepped up to the entrance hall where she saw the adviser leading the boys to the exit. Zoey needed to sign a list that was there in order to prevent pupils from getting lost. Alas, something didn't seem right. Dustin was usually darting like a squirrel towards Zoey when he had not seen her for several days. This time, Zoey had a different impression: She saw dustin getting dragged out of the airport shuttle. "Dustin? Are you OK?"
Dustin didn't really answer, just moan apathetically. He hardly recognised Zoey when she signed the paper. "Zoey ..." His voice sounded tortured and forced.
Zoey thought that Dustin had been bitterly disappointed by the outcome of the trials. Yet it can't have been all that bad, or so the other participants wagered. The look in his eyes wasn't that of disappointment, anyways. Zoey would have noticed that, given that she had encountered many pupils in desperate situations ... Zoey grabbed Dustin's wrist and was about leading him away to her car. "Lola, do you want to drive?" She wanted to observe Dustin instead of the traffic, all the way back to the PCA.
Lola nodded. "OK!" She activated the diesels.
"Quinn ..." Zoey sighed deeply, "would you please examine Dustin when we're back?"
Quinn beamed. "Surgically?"
Zoey glared angrily at Quinn. "No! You better don't dare to scratch him!"
Quinn looked disappointed. Comparing this with Dustin's impression told Zoey that her assumption was right: Dustin was not just discontent with the outcome of the trials.
Quinn measured Dustin's temperature. "Normal, no acute fever."
"Why is he sweating like the Niagara falls?" Zoey wondered. "Nobody in my family ever sweated like that."
Quinn's examinations went on and on. "May I cut him behind the ears and ..."
Zoey was now really upset. "No! I've already told you not to scratch him!"
Quinn moaned. "OK, then no brain currents ..."
Zoey was waiting for a diagnosis while she watched Quinn carefully going through long lists of symptoms.
Lola had been marching forth and back in order to fetch coffee for her room mates. "Dustin is not old enough for black coffee, right?"
Zoey nodded. "Thanks!" She placed a cup of milky coffee next to Dustin's table.
Dustin could neither eat nor sleep nor drink, he just stammered and moaned.
Quinn sighed. "OK, the diagnosis ..."
Zoey's heart beat like a sledge hammer.
"Dustin is love sick ..." Quinn concluded.
"Love sick?" Zoey was consternated. How could that have happened? "How sick?"
"On a scale from one to ten ..." Quinn estimated ... "Nine, maybe nine and a half!"
"Aw my god!" Lola screamed with excitement. She beamed brightly. "How romantic! Who's his Juliet?"
Zoey sighed. "It must have happened during the trip ... I hope it's some of the fellow participants ..." She coughed. "Then we just need to check the list of ..."
Quinn had thought so far. "Here it is. There are not so many girls. All I need is to read the list to Dustin, and to measure his reactions."
"Do you do that without having to cut Dustin?" Zoey needed to know.
"Aw come on!" Quinn begged. "Where's the fun if ..."
"No!" Zoey remained stubborn.
Quinn sighed bitterly, but she obeyed to Zoey's verdict. She just applied some test stripes to dustin's sweat which changed colour upon touch. Then she compared the results after she had gone through the list. "OK, that must be her: Lucy Luanda from ..."
Zoey was too tired to take notice of the details. But she swore to find that girl, for she knew that Dustin would otherwise have been going to be unhappy forever. Of course there was the possibility that said girl refused to love Dustin back, but she was there to comfort Dustin in that case. Chase had made all those terrible experiences because he had not insisted in clarity. Dustin should not have been forced to go through all these purgatories, or so Zoey swore.
Calling True
After a few hours of research, Zoey had figured the number of Lulu's mother. She called her in the afternoon hours, which, due to 3Cthe time shift, meant noon at the PCA. But she got to hear that Lulu, as her daughter was commonly called, worked in the afternoon as an office assistant for an enterprise named Madstyle.
"Madstyle?" Michael Barret, one of Zoey's friends banged his head. "Who wants to work for an enterprise named Madstyle?" He shrugged ignorantly. "I mean, mad ... that's ok or a lunatic bin, but for an enterprise?"
Zoey told Michael to shut up. She dialed the number of the office where Lulu was supposed to work. ""
"Madstyle ... Office True Jackson VP" True boomed upon picking up the phone.
The voice sounded young enough for a highschool girl, hence Zoey sighed with relief. "This is Zoey Brooks from Malibu. I'm talking to Mrs. Lulu, right?"
True shook her head, "Sorry, this should be the work of Lulu, but she's too messy for that, so I have to pick up the phone myself. "
That didn't sound like the best publicity for Lulu. But, so what, Zoey knew that Dustin was messy as well, many impractical geniuses were. "OK, I need to talk to LUlu. My brother has been to her mathlympic camp, just a few days ago."
True handed the telephone to Lulu. Somehow, she remembered that she thad already read the name of Zoey Brooks in the jourenal for international fashion. But , whatever, she left it to Lulu.
"Lulu ... aka double Lu ..." She smiled.
"OK, Lulu , I've been calling across half of the country to get there ... well, do you remember my brother Dustin?" Zoey asked.
"Dustin ... Dustin ... Dustin ..." she tried hard. "Oh sure, yeah, the smart sweetie from California? I know that Sacramento is the capital of California, not Los Angeles." Lulu smiled. "What's up with him?"
Zoey sighed. "OK, nice to know that you're such a geography freak. But Dustin ..." Zoey was anxious. "I don't want to embarass you. But what I have to tell you might be ..."
"Aw cool!" Lulu smiled. "I love embarassing news!"
"Dustin has got a crush on you." Zoey sighed. "From uvula to pancreas!" She moaned. "He hasn't been able to eat and sleep and drink since he left the camp ..."
Lulu went red like a lobster. Dustin was at least a year younger than her. Had she been that charming. "Really?" She stopped grinning like a maniac and slumped to her chair. Dustin was all cute and sweet, no reason not to like him, but what to make of all that? "I have to ... think ..."
True took over the phone. "True Jackson ... again." She sighed. "I've heard everything. Lulu is a bit ... surprised?"
Zoey nodded. "Which girl wouldn't be surprised? I mean ... I don't want to press your secretary, but I can't see my little brother suffer. Lulu should talk to him and make up her mind clearly."
True sighed. "Lulu has got a little brother on her own, thus she will understand your concern."
"Thanks to you and your friend, whatever the conclusion." Zoey smiled. "My number is ..." She told True several ways of reaching her.
"Now, what do you think, Double Lu?" True smiled.
"I think that old shoes taste better than Amanda's sandwich." Ryan burped while he adjusted the legs that rested on his table.
"Nobody asked you!" True remarked. She also noticed that Lulu had turned various shades within a few minutes.
"Sure, I know Dustin, and he is very sweet and very smart ..." Lulu stammered in a timid manner. "Even if he's a bit young ... one of the youngest boys in the camp!"
True sighed. "It would be very rude to let a thirteen or forteen years old boy temble like a fish on a hook." She looked at Lulu.
"I'm not afraid of being seen with a younger boy ..." Lulu shrugged. "As long as I may pass him off as a friend of my younger brother." Lulu chuckled.
True knew that Lululiked to use her little brother often enough as an excuse to do things she was considered too old for. "Having a younger brother,you are probably quite able to understand Zoey's concerns ..."
Lulu nodded. "If I could, I'd drive straight to California, and ..."
"California ... sun ... beaches ... tanned boys ..." True swooned.
Amanda Cantwell butted in, looking for a victim to delegate her work unto. "Ms. Jackson ..." She bellowed rudely. "Our customer Fitchcrombie in Los Angelos needs a new catalogue until next week!"
"And so?" True shrugged.
"You're going to fly to LA and present them my plans." Amanda insisted. Then she threw a large pile of folders onto True's desk and disappeared.
True shrugged. "Hi, Los Angeles ... that's one occasion for you to meet Dustin!" True stared at Lulu.
"And for me to meet some hot beach chicks!" Ryan butted in.
Lulu sighed. "If you say so ..."
True Jackson went through the fashion journals. "Hah! I knew it ... Zoey Brooks had been at the fashion fair in Milan, Italy, where she told the interviewers that she was not an agent of Fitchcrombie's, but an independantly working fashion designing highschool kid! That's so impressive!" True swooned. She really had to get to know Zoey! She didn't waiste any time calling Zoey's number again.
Jimmy Madigan, the band leader and nephiew of the boss, had recently turned eighteen and was thus going to accompany Lulu and True as a responsible adult.
True In LA
True and Lulu walked the campous of the PCA, followed by Jimmy. It was a nice and warm Californian day, nothing compared to New York's weather True and Lulu were accustomed to. They has asked their way to the lounge of Zoey's hall where they saw a woman of thirty years with an almost empty rusty can of ravioli. "Ma'm ..." True asked the strange woman. "Dorm 101, please! We're visitors."
Coco Wexler, the woman with the canned ravioli, nodded. "OK, I'm the dorm adviser. You need to sign in as visitors, right here ..."
True and Lulu obeyed to the formalities. "And no boys in the girls' rooms after 8 p.m. !" she bellowed, eying Jimmy Madigan suspiciously.
Alas, Jimmy didn't listen at all. He looked around in the lounge. Suddenly he felt a tingling shockwave running up and down his spine. "Isn't that ..." His eyes bugged out ... "Lisa Perkins ..."
True shrugged. "Do we need to call the medic?" She checked Jimmy's temperature.
"Aw you ... that must be Lisda Perkins" Jimmy beamed. "She's in the final turn of Randy Jackson's National contest for future rockpop stars!" He staggered and floundered.
True and Lulu helped him to sit down without keeling over like a damaged ship on the open seas.
"Lisa Perkins!" Jimmy yelled across the lounge, his voice betraying his ecstasy.
Lisa shrugged and turned around. "That's me! You are?"
Jimmy's eyes inflated to heart-shaped balloons. "I'm ... Jimmy ... Madigan, drummer of a band from New York City." He showed her his drum sticks.
"Oh, that's nice ..." Lisa smiled. "So ... you want me as a guest singer in your band?"
"Yeah, please!" Jimmy's heart jumped through the roof.
True and Lulu decided to leave Jimmy with Lisa in the lounge, and then they walked on to doirm 101, looking for Zoey.
Lola and Quinn were fighting over an airbag bra which blew up on site in no time.
True and Lulu stumbled in. They were flaggergasted.
"Quinn Pensky ..." Quinn gruinned. "This was one of my quinnventions. I invent things, and those are called quinnventions."
True and Lulu were scared when they saw a lot of test tubes containing multi-coloured, noisily bubbling liquids.
"She's quinnsane!" Lola screamed.
"Hey! I've seen you ... on TV, could that be?" True asked Lola, all excited.
"You did?" Lola jumped up and down. "It was just a filler role in a sitcom ..." She sighed bitterly.
"Lulu has got a brilliant rote memory ..." True explained. "But we are properly waiting for Zoey ... and her little brother."
Quinn picked up her cellular phone and called Zoey, telling her that the guests had just arrived.
Zoey dragged Dustin along with her.
Dustin sighed and blushed. There she was, the girl of his dreams: Lu Lu! He couldn't get a word off his tongue, but he coughed stammering.
Lulu wasn't any better off. Usually, she was hard to get away from her grinning frenzy, but this time, she had to flounder in order to stay conscious. "D ... U ... S ... T ... I ... N"
Zoey and True shrugged.
True shook Zoey's hand. "Sorry. I swear, usually Lulu isn't like that, and her tongue is as loose as the morals of certain star models ..." She grinned.
Zoey suggested True to sit down. "So you're the daughter of Mrs. Jackson, VP?"
True coughed. "Er ... no ... I am True Jackson, VP of Madstyle inc."
Zoey walked a through steps back, stepping involuntarily on Quinn's test tubes.
"Be more careful!" Quinn yelled. "These liquids would eat through the floor if ... " Quinn sighed because the experiment had aoparently failed.
"What sort of enterprise is Madstyle ..." Zoey wondered. Who employs teenies as VPs?
"A fashion vendor ..." True explained. "I'm the VP for Young Fashion."
Zoeyt banged her head against the wall. "Fashion vendor? How could I dare to not know you ... " Zoey sighed with disappointment. "I'm sort of a hobby fashion designer ..."
True nodded. "I've read about you in Fashion International, the report about the Milan Fair ..."
Zoey nodded.
True scratched her head. "You could make a lot of bucks!" She beamed.
"I know!" Zoey sighed. "But si far, I've preferred to accept only natural payment that was useful for all pupils here: Drake Parker gave a concert in turn for a design for his band's tops, the lounge was equipped with a new DVD player, and lots more ..."
True smiled. "You must be a very popular person here!"
Zoey chuckled. "I am?"
Lola and Quinn nodded vigorously.
"Let's go to the smoothie station!" Zoey suggested. She looked at Dustin and Lulu who smiled at each other, but yet unable to say anything. "Maybe the love birds will fess up over an appleberry smoothie."
"Good idea!" True grinned. She grabbed Lulu. "Apples aren't berries ... so what is an appleberry smoothie?"
Zoey pulled Dustin's wrists. She shrugged. "No idea, but I'm not responsible for those smoothie vendors, either."
They walked off on the campus.
Truestyle
The afternoon at the smoothie station had been wonderful. True and Zoey had talked a lot about latest fashion trends, and they had watched Dustin and Lulu talking about algebra and geometry.
"Are you returning to NYC over night?" Zoey asked True.
"Oops, we haven't yet thought about it!" True shook her head in shame. "Usually, it's Lulu's task to be messy."
"Not a problem!" Zoey smiled. "You may stay in my dorm."
"And Lola and Quinn?" True wondered.
"Oops ..." Zoey sighed. "One of you sure may stay in my dorm, and the other one next door ... Stacey Dillsen might want to have some company."
Lulu and True accepted.
The next morning, True Jackson woke up with an SMS on her cellular phone. She checked it. It was from Madstyle™'s headquarter in NYC. True had obviously also received a longer message by mail. "Zoey!" she whispered to the yet sleepy blonde. "May I use interweb access? I need to check my Coolmail™ account whether I've received some important e-mail from my boss."
Zoey yawned heartily. She inadvertedly wrapped her hands around True and huggled her tightly, licking her cheek wet. "Always and ever!"
True gasped, all flabbergasted. "OK ... how do I access the interweb from here."
Zoey noticed what she had done. "Oops!" She blushed with embarassment. "My laptop is the pink one right over there. Go to the lounge and check whether there's a free spot, there should be at this time." She yawned again, but she had to get up and brush her teeth before Stacey got yet another diarrhea attack. She always had got the bad luck and caught the spoiled food.
True thanked Zoey and walked out on the hallway.
Quinn and Lola complained about the noise.
Lulu walked in. "Why is Stacey's dorm filled with cotton swabs, from the floor up to ceiling?"
"She's a spaz!" Quinn remarked.
Zoey returned. "The toilets are clean ... still!"
Then True came back, her face all pale.
"What's wrong?" Zoey was worried.
True started weeping. She showed Zoey the message she had downloaded.
"Mr. Madigan has just gone on vacation, so I'm in charge of the administration of the enterprise. As my first action in this office, I've fired you. Bye-Bye! or better ... A dieu! Amanda Cantwell." Zoey read. "Oh my Gawd! Who is Amanda Cantwell?"
Lulu almost passed out.
"A fake snake!" Lulu whimpered.
"Another VP who never liked me!" True sobbed.
Zoey threw hear arms around True, once more. "Sorry, True!"
True rested her head on Zoey's shoulders.
Lulu was envious. "Noby comforts me." She sobbed.
"Dustin will!" Lola beamed. "I'm quite sure that he can't help that!"
Lulu swooned. "Dustin wants us to prepare together for the next geometry camp. That will be a lot of fun. Do you know that the angles in a pentagram ..."
Zoey stared oddly at Lulu, making her shut up.
"OK ..." Lulu smiled and took her cellular phone, pushing Dustin's numbers.
"True ..." Zoey coughed. "Sorry for all. If you want, we may start our own enterprise, just the two of us, from scratch."
True liked that idea. "And Lulu?"
Zoey nodded. "Dustin and Lulu will be our assistants. They are really good with numbers, I've heard ..."
True smiled. "But we'll also need models." She sighed. "I know a few female models, especially Dakota North, but we wil also need a male one!"
Zoey beamed. "Dakota will be fine! And I know a possible male one ... follow me!"
True bounded out, following Zoey. "That's interesting!"
Zoey and True snuck into the dorm of lazy brat Logan Reese, son of a rich Hollyway producer, who wanted to become a model, in case that his dad refused to pay him for good for doing nothing.
Logan yawned like a hyena.
"Logan, wake up! Logan, wake up!" Zoey bellowed rhythmically.
"What the ...?" Logan was flabbergasted.
"We've got an offer for you. You've always wanted to be a male model, so you're going to present mine and True's fall collection at ..." Zoey grinned.
Logan was grumpy. "Why would I?" But he had to recognise that this was a big chance. He had sensed that his dad was increasingly unwilling to pay for his dolce vita foever and one day. "Are there any female models?"
True nodded. "Dakota North!"
Logan Reese's eyes bulged. "Da ... da ... dakota?"
True and Zoey nodded solemnly, secure in the knowledge that Logan would never resist to such a super top model.
"I love you!" True whispered into Zoey's ears.
"I Love you too!" Zoey pressed her lips against True's nose.
This was the first day of their common work in their new enterprise. They have decided to call it Truestyle™. Zoey has been made the president, in turn.
Dustin and Lulu, their two loyal assistants, were more occupied with huggling and talking about algebra than with their work, but True and Zoey had no time to care about that.
The wedding of Logan Reese and Dakota North, the new dream team in the scene, was just around the corner. Amanda had paid the Pinky Leader, already known to Zoey as Trisha Kirby, to sabotage the opening of Truestyle™, assisted by bully Vince Blake who had let down his pregnant fiance Lola Martinez for said Pinky, but they had no success.
There was no way to stop Truestyle™.